TL;DR
- Shortwave is a new email client that borrows some of the best features from Google Inbox.
- It’s the brainchild of a few former Google employees.
- It has both free and paid plans.
Google Inbox is long dead. The experimental email client launched in 2014 and pioneered many useful features such as bundled emails. However, Google retired the product in 2019 in favor of the new Gmail. If you still miss the good ol’ Inbox, you might be pleased to know that a bunch of ex-Googlers have brought some of its best features to life in the form of a new email client called Shortwave.
Shortwave is reminiscent of Google Inbox in many ways. The most prominent feature that makes a return is bundled messages. Emails are sorted in groups on a single page instead of the tabbed interface you see on the current Gmail. These bundles are categorized as “updates,” “promotions,” and “social.” The best part is you can mark multiple emails as done with a single sweep button, just like you could win Inbox.
The goal is to maximize productivity. The Google Inbox-inspired features are meant to help users better manage a growing volume of emails and give them the tools to handle their inbox like a to-do list.
You also get a bunch of other handy features with Shortwave, such as the ability to pin important emails on top, snooze messages, respond with GIFs and emojis, and more.
To be clear, Shortwave is not a standalone email service. It’s a client, just like Inbox. That means you’ll have to grant it access to your Gmail account so it can sort all your emails. Shortwave is free to use for limited 90-day access to your email history. If you want your complete email history in it, you’ll have to shell out $9 per month for the standard plan.
